saturday at home

Suzanne Eleanor was born on February 23, 2001.....and Sonja Kathleen came on May 3, 2002....so they are 14 and 1/2 months apart....Suzanne is tall for her age, 7...they think they look like twins because they are dressed the same...Looking at Sonja makes me miss my mother...my mother had red hair, very pretty red curly hair, and freckles...and each of the 40something grandchildren that were born, she would insist it looked like they were going to have red hair....some of my kids have some really nice highlights, and Evelyn has strawberry blonde...but Sonja has the closest to red hair, and the freckles.....her hair isn't as vivid as my mother's was, but close....my mother died two years ago July......she would love seeing Sonja grow up...I love summer....I can have my kids here....we can do spontaneous stuff....I am working on getting Camille to a point where I can leave her here when Aaron has his surgery....it is scheduled for August 18th....Camille sleeps all night, she takes juice in a bottle, and eats baby food...she doesn't like formula, so I am going to try to pump and see if she'll take it in a bottle....I don't want to leave her behind, but she'll be 9 months old then, and probably crawling....4-5 days in a hospital with her at that point sounds crazy. My instincts that bind me to her are protesting, but those caring feelings I have for my 15 year old son, Aaron, need to be heard....he will need me, his mommy, with him at that time. And I can't very well take care of him in his hospital room with a busy little baby....I am consoling myself that Camille will be happier here.....and I'm trying to convince the older kids who will be holding down the fort that they will survive with Camille here....I may have to resort to paying them big money....One of them commented that she will be another monkey wrench in the monkey wrench pile....but they will come around. The hospital is over 2 hours away....I thought of having Camille there, with some helpers, but that would tax them to take care of her in hospital waiting rooms....

I have alot to say, but Camille is napping, and the workload needs chipping away.....not to mention that I would like to get outside...Paul is away at a music weekend with all the older kids....so it is a bit lonely here with just Samuel, 12, on down.....and Ben....who is still sleeping, tired from delivering pizzas last night....with the bigger ones gone, it is actually a bit quieter, and I connect more with the younger ones....I was thinking of surprising them with a trip to McDonalds to play on the germy playland.....let's see, 8 kids plus one friend visiting, Bethany, 2 items each from the dollar menu, plus $2 for me, twenty bucks.....plus 2 gallons of gas to get there and back....is it worth the surprise? If the rain holds off, we could go to the big playground....hmmm.....I know my house would be more organized if I stayed here more, but it is so much fun to do things with these guys...right now they are finding badminton rackets....